


Frames

by arminarlerted



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Well happy ending-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:32:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3459218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arminarlerted/pseuds/arminarlerted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Armin gets injured during a mission of the Survey Corps, he knows his life will never be the same again. Thankfully he has someone to lean on when it gets rough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frames

It suddenly became so _dark_.  
  
The first question that popped into his head when he was able to form coherent thoughts, was a childish _“Who turned off the lights?”._ But the longer Armin pondered about it, the less it began to make sense. He recalled it was broad daylight just moments ago. Then why –?  
  
“ARMIN?” A familiar voice shouted somewhere nearby, interrupting his train of thought. Armin recognised it as Eren’s, and it sounded incredibly distressed.  
  
He opened his mouth to answer to the call, but no sound would come out. Something prevented him from doing it, for reasons unknown – and the more he began to come to his senses, the more Armin could tell about his current situation. Apparently, it was a dire one.  
  
He then became increasingly aware of a heavy weight pressing down on his body. Armin wasn’t sure what it was and how it came to be there, but it made him completely unable to move.  
  
“ARMIN!” Eren’s voice called out again, much closer this time. There was some shifting and panting, and then the heaviness was slowly lifted from his body.  
  
“Armin, are you okay? Armin. _Armin_!”  
  
Two hands firmly grasped Armin’s shoulders, and he could feel that he was rolled onto his back. When he didn’t immediately respond to his friend’s question, he felt soft, gentle slaps in his face.  
  
“Armin, please say something. Don’t be dead, please don’t be. _Please_...”  
  
“Eren?” he croaked, as he finally found himself being able to produce sounds without the heaviness on top of him.  
  
“Oh, thank _God_ ,” Eren cried out in relief. “Shit, Armin... We’ve got to get you out of here now. The retreat signal has been given, we need to get ourselves to a safe place. Quickly.”  
  
Armin was still too dazed to process the information that had just been given to him – _retreat signal?_  Were they on a mission? And more importantly – why was everything so black? And how did Eren even _find_ him in this darkness?  
  
There was a sudden, firm tug on his arms, and Armin was brought to his feet again. He swayed a little, but Eren’s arm swiftly came to his aid, supporting him underneath his shoulderblades as he struggled to keep his balance.  
  
“ _Eren_ —?”  
  
But a sudden lack of oxygen to Armin’s brain made him weak in the knees, and then everything was gone again.

* * *

  
  
The next thing Armin knew, was that he was laying on something soft and comfortable, which was a definite improvement from the previous, hard surface he had been upon.  
  
 _“... He’s lucky you found him so quickly, Jaeger. He might not have survived at all if he had been left there on his own.”_  
  
The low voice sounded muffled and far away in his still foggy state, but Armin could still make out what was being said. Slowly, he tried to open his eyes.  
  
And he immediately knew something was wrong. So very, incredibly _wrong_.  
  
The world around him was still pitch black. Earlier he thought that it was just the area around him that was dark – but he was definitely somewhere else now, because the smells were different. The previous location had smelled like wood, ashes and dust and this one had a... surprisingly chemical scent. ‘Clean’ probably was the best way to describe it.  
  
“ _Armin_.”  
  
It was Eren’s voice again, and it sounded clearer than the previous voice now. Maybe Armin was finally coming more to his senses.  
  
Armin heard some footsteps coming into his general direction, and then he felt his left hand gently being cooped up in a pair of bigger ones. He flinched a little at the unexpected touch, but didn’t retreat. Then, Eren spoke once more.  
  
“How... how’re you feeling?”  
  
Armin wasn’t sure how to answer. He couldn’t really remember what had happened before everything went dark, and he didn’t know if he was fully capable of registering the pain he was surely meant to feel. He just knew that he was so _tired_. Everything felt heavy to him. Even the thought of having to respond to Eren’s question seemed to drain him completely, so he decided to put what was left of his energy into a much more urgent question.  
  
“Why... is it so dark?” Armin whispered.  
  
There was total silence after he had spoken, and Eren’s grip on Armin’s hand tightened for a moment. Armin pressed his lips together, dreading whatever might come next.  
  
“A-Armin...” Eren croaked eventually. “I... I don’t know how to tell you this.”  
  
Armin already started to regret asking anything. Maybe he didn’t even _want_ to hear what Eren had to say. The fear and sadness in his friend’s voice scared him.  
  
“W-when you... When that Titan threw you into that building, you... well, you went headfirst through a window, and... then that... _monster_ smashed through the wall. I thought I had lost you, too...”  
  
Eren’s voice died out a little and Armin could feel something wet drip onto his chest. It made the feeling of dread in his gut only worse. When his best friend resumed his explanation, he didn’t even sound like himself anymore. He sounded raw, defeated and at least 20 years older.  
  
“I’m sorry, I’m so, _so_ sorry, Armin. Y-you’ve been blinded.”

* * *

It was only after Eren had spoken those much dreaded words when Armin retreated his hand from Eren’s hold. Not quite processing the obviously devastating news he’d just been told, he raised his now free hand up to his face, only to discover a piece of cloth covering his eyes that he wasn’t aware was there before he had touched it.

A sheepish “ _oh_ ” escaped Armin’s lips. So it was true, then. The horrible reality of the whole situation began to slowly sink in, but Armin didn’t scream, yell or cry. He couldn’t, or at least, he didn’t want to. There was a time for being strong and a time for grieving, and he couldn’t allow himself to grieve just yet. He had to be strong for Eren. For the both of them. He couldn’t afford to think about the consequences of all this just yet.

“Better not touch that, kid,” the other voice in the room said. Armin winced a little and turned his head into the general direction of the sound, having almost forgotten there was someone else in the room with them. He stupidly couldn’t help but wonder how many more people were watching in silence.  
  
“It’ll help your wounds heal better,” the voice continued, and Armin started to recognise it as Captain Levi’s. Armin was a bit surprised he was even there – was he truly important enough for the Captain to show up at his sickbed? Heeding the advice given to him, he lowered his hand onto his mattress again, feeling a strange kind of numbness growing inside himself.  
  
Eren didn’t grab hold of his hand again, but the blond had found the previous touch to be reassuring. Feeling his way around, Armin found his friend’s hand once more and laced his fingers between his, just like he had when he’d discovered Eren was alive after the Titan attack they had both faced a long time ago.  
  
“Is there any chance for recovery, Captain?” Eren asked, basically putting the hopeful question Armin had inside his head ever since the news got broken to him, into words.  
  
Silence again, and then a soft sigh.  
  
“I’m afraid not,” Levi said with a softness in his voice that was foreign to Armin. “The wounds to your eyes and face were too severe.”  
  
The Captain usually sounded either stiff and emotionless, or extremely sarcastic, so the fact that he was actually capable of sounding anything other than that came as a surprise to him. But the gentleness of that statement still didn’t soften the blow to Armin’s gut.  
  
He’d _never_ be able to see again... He’d never be able to read his beloved books again, or look at the pictures of the outside world inside the one his parents had left him –

Oh, God. The outside world. Even _if_ he did make it out of this whole Titan ordeal alive, he’d never be able to see the ocean with his own eyes. That had been the plan all along, hadn’t it? See the ocean with Eren and Mikasa? Watch his own astonishment being reflected in their faces?

It was only then that Armin broke down. Letting out a pathetic little sob, he held onto Eren’s hand so tightly that he was probably crushing the bones in it. He felt weak and angry with himself for not keeping the promise to himself to be strong, but he couldn’t help it. He felt like he was going to be a burden to them all over again.  
  
He heard Eren shift beside him and before he knew it, his remaining hand was being held as well.  
  
“Armin?” Eren asked softly.  
  
Pressing his lips tightly together to regain some of his composure, Armin turned his head to Eren’s direction once more.  
  
“Yeah?” Armin croaked.  
  
“I just...” Eren started, taking in a gulp of air before he carried on talking, “I just want you to know that I’m going to be there for you no matter what. And... And I know it’s going to be tough at times, but that won’t make me leave your side, ever. And I speak for Mikasa here as well. We’ll both be there for you. You hear me?”  
  
Armin had wanted to cry at the sincerity of his best friend’s words, but before he got the chance to even say anything back to him, Levi’s voice piped up from across the room:  
  
“Eurgh... I’m just going to tend to the other patients now, this is too much for me to handle.” Now _there_ was the familiar Captain Levi that Armin was so used to. As Levi’s footsteps died out, Armin focused his attention on Eren again.  
  
“Do you really mean that?” he asked weakly.  
  
“Of course I do, idiot,” Eren replied, regaining some of his old cockiness. And although Armin couldn’t see it, he could practically _hear_ the slight grin in the tone of his voice.  
  
Armin smiled a little through his tears and tried to sit up, despite Eren’s soft protests: “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Please don’t hurt yourself...”  
  
“Eren, I’m _blind_ , not dying,” Armin reminded him, but then he recalled Captain Levi’s first words when he had woken up. Maybe he hadn’t been far from it. Eren had saved his life once again, so it seemed.

As soon as Armin sat upright, he released Eren’s hands and tried to feel his way around once more. He just wanted to see his friend’s face again, and the only way he could was by just... touching.  
  
Eventually his fingertips met surprisingly soft skin that were wet with tears as well. He could hear Eren take a deep breath through his nose, but he didn’t move away from Armin’s touch. Instead, Armin could swear he even leaned a little into it.  
  
As his hands moved gently across Eren’s face, he tried to project the familiar features inside his head: the tip-tilted nose, the strong eyebrows, and as his thumbs gently moved over his friend’s eyelids, he tried to imagine the green-blue irises beneath them. The pictures in the forbidden book had never contained any colored pictures of the outside world, but the ocean had been described as the exact same shade.  
  
His hands moved further down to Eren’s jawline, and then slightly upwards to his lips. Armin pictured the cocky grin on them as he’d seen so many times before, and – _what it would feel like to kiss them._ Armin was startled at the intrusive thought. How did _that_ suddenly happen? Eren was his _friend_ , he wasn’t meant to think about him that way – but still, the softness of Eren’s lips was something he would love to explore some more...

Quickly, Armin took his fingers away from Eren’s lips, and moved them down to his jawline once more, childishly hoping that Eren wasn’t a mind reader of some sort.  
  
“Armin...” Eren hummed, and Armin was shocked to hear how _low_ his voice sounded. It _definitely_ didn’t really help his previous thoughts, either. He then came to the conclusion that he was still holding Eren’s face, _dammit_ – but as he tried to remove them from the other boy’s face, two hands grabbed them once more and placed them back.  
  
“Don’t,” Eren whispered.  
  
Armin only realised too late that his mouth was slightly hanging open.  
  
“Eren –? ”  
  
“Can I...?” the other boy asked softly.  
  
But before he got the chance to finish that question, Armin leaned in and placed his lips on Eren’s, and it was as if the dark world around him had finally found its light. But then he felt the other boy’s lips tense, and he already regretted doing this.  
  
 _What do you think you are you doing, you idiot!?_

Armin honestly had no idea, but Jesus, Eren’s lips felt _so good_ on his –  
  
But as soon as he tried to pull back and apologise, he suddenly felt Eren’s hands on his jawline, gently holding him in place. Armin was surprised to feel Eren relaxing into their kiss, but he certainly did not complain.  
  
With this consent given by Eren, Armin pressed his lips more firmly to his, pouring out all the emotions that had been rushing through him ever since the accident.  
  
 _I love you. I love you, I love you, you saved my life so many times and in so many ways and I could never repay you, but my God, I love you so much. I don’t know why I’m only realising that now, but I think I always knew that I want you in my life, now and forever._  
  
When they both pulled back, they were panting slightly, and if Armin’s own face temperature was anything to go by, Eren had to be blushing just as much as he was.  
  
Eren was the first one to speak.  
  
“That was...”  
  
“Yeah,” Armin agreed, not even knowing what adjective Eren had been planning to use. He wasn’t sure how he’d describe this, either.  
  
There was a loaded silence for a couple more moments, but then Armin was pulled into a gentle embrace. Letting out a shaky sigh, he wrapped his arms around Eren’s waist, resting his chin onto the other boy’s shoulder. They just sat there for a while, neither one of them saying a word.  
  
“We’ll still go and see the ocean after this is all over, yeah?” Armin murmured.  
  
Eren nodded slightly, rubbing his hand across Armin’s back reassuringly. “Of course we will. Mikasa and I will describe everything in detail to you when we get there.”  
  
As he inhaled sharply, he caught a whiff of Eren’s scent – he smelled like a mix of grass and kitchen spices, such as cinnamon and cumin... Armin decided he liked it. And although he still felt regretful about not being able to see the vast mass of water himself, the prospect of having Eren and Mikasa by his side filled him with hope. They _would_ make it out of this alive. They would go and visit the ocean together. He was absolutely positive of that.  
  
He was reminded once again, that he wasn’t a burden to them after all. He was their equal, their friend. And the sincere promises that had been made by Eren were the absolute proof of that.  
  
 _No matter what happens, we are eternal._

**Author's Note:**

> Whew!! That was the first fanfic I've written in ages! I'd like to formally apologise for potentially hurting your feelings. I deliberately chose not to give anything away in the tags, so that the nature of Armin's injury would come as more of a shock, I suppose. (The hints I had dropped before the reveal were probably a bit obvious, though...)
> 
> I honestly don't know if this is any good, either, because I've been out of the running for so long and English is not my native language! (So I also apologise for any spelling or grammar mistakes I might have made.)
> 
> I'd like to thank tumblr for the inspiration to write a blind!Armin AU. Because my poor little heart couldn't handle all the angst that comes with this AU, I wanted to incorporate some fluff as well to soften the pain. I swear to God, stabbing myself with a spoon and digging my own heart out with it would be less painful than this AU. Isayama, don't you dare make it a reality. *glares in Japan's general direction*
> 
> The title of this oneshot is a direct reference to the piano piece I was listening to as I was writing this. It's called "Frames" and is performed by Dutch pianist Michiel Borstlap. It also seemed appropriate because Frames is a synonym for Pictures as well. And Armin did picture a lot of things inside his head.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this oneshot!! 
> 
> Cheers, Marina Xx


End file.
